mexican fintech company Capital raised a new round of capital, $20 million in Series A and $45 million in a line of credit, less than a year after securing an initial round of $8.6 million.
The company, founded by René Saúl and Fernando Sandoval in 2020, started after they both sold their previous business and wanted to build a platform that could provide a way for small and medium-sized businesses in Latin America to cover all their financial needs. , including cash flow, credit and investments, all in one place.
“First you need to organize the business and then it will grow,” Saul said in an interview. “That’s what we’re doing. We are not just giving you a corporate card or telling you to open your own bank account, we are giving you the complete solution.”
Saul added that he and Sandoval saw that companies had no visibility into their finances: Many didn’t even know who they owed money to or needed to collect money from.
With Kapital, clients have a kind of business reporting platform where they can get a credit card, pay bills in advance, view cash flow, and manage business expenses. In addition, the company developed an algorithm that helps clients calculate future income and, if necessary, will help with a future loan “at the precise moment you need it,” Saul said.
Kapital was part of Y Combinator’s winter 2022 cohort, and last year it expanded into Colombia and launched Kapital Flex, a way to defer payments to vendors and commercial invoices.
The company is now working with more than 11,000 companies, and while Saul declined to discuss revenue growth figures, he said he expected Kapital to be profitable by this summer.
It also launched full automation of its platform two months ago, for example, when a client executes a contract, Kapital’s platform automatically sends an invoice. Also, there are plans for more AI-powered products, Saul said.
That’s where the new capital comes in. Niya Partners and Tribe Capital co-led Series A, which closed a month ago, and were joined by a group of investors including Dropbox co-founder Arash Ferdowsi, Marbruck, Broom Ventures, FoundersX, Cresset/True Capital Management, Pioneer Fund, Kube VC and MyAsia VC. Accial provided the line of credit. In total, Kapital raised more than $30 million in equity and $145 million in debt.
“We have signed over 100 fintech companies and almost none of them have been able to monetize,” Arjun Sethi, chief executive of Tribe Capital, said by email. “Kapital turned the model around: use fintech as an acquisition channel. Not only that, their fintech products generate money. Their path will not be easy, but they have a great opportunity to reinvent SMB banking in Latin America.”
Plans for the capital include product development and further expansion in Colombia.
“The general idea is how do you give a company the most important SaaS where you control the money,” Sandoval said in an interview. “And also, how can you make it powerful because right now, legacy players control the money? We can provide all of this data to understand the business and help customers make decisions.”
